US, WI: Craft brewers enlarging audience by expanding into cans

It used to be you could tell a craft beer by the glass bottle. Nowadays, craft brewers are bottling their small-batch beers in aluminum cans to cater to venues that prefer cans to glass bottles, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“It’s just a convenient package,” said Jeff Hamilton, president of Sprecher Brewing Co., which recently started selling its Special Amber brand in a can.

Last year, Milwaukee Brewing Co. started offering Louie’s Demise and Flaming Damsel in aluminum cans, while Stevens Point Brewery and Capital Brewery Co. continue to bottle in glass receptacles.

“We’re really big on cans. We love them,” said Jim McCabe, president of Milwaukee Brewing. This summer, Godzilla and Monkey Paw will debut in cans.

Craft brewers are enlarging their audience by expanding into cans because some venues — such as baseball stadiums and golf courses — ban glass bottles. Convenience stores also sell most drinks in plastic bottles or cans, but not glass bottles, which opens up new sales channels for canned craft beer.

Aluminum cans are also cheaper and lighter, which reduces shipping and packaging costs, dropping down the price of craft beer, said Carl Nolen, president of Capital Brewery.

Last year, 3 percent of U.S. craft beer sold was canned, according to the Brewers Association. In the overall beer market, 52 percent of beer is sold canned, according to The Beer Institute.

25 May, 2011